A few days before the start of the season in the German Ice Hockey League (Penny DEL), the anticipation at the 14 locations is high. Aufsteiger Dresden Eislöwen, who plays the opening game on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at the reigning German champion Eisbären (start: 7.30 p.m./live and free of charge for everyone at Magentasport), feels a huge euphoria: the first eight home games of the Saxons, which as promoted for the first time in the highest German division, are already sold out.
For the DEL Winter Game-powered by Magentasport-on January 10, 2026 in the Dresden Rudolf Harbig Stadium against the polar bears, only almost 2000 standing room cards are available four months before the game. The club stopped selling season tickets for the premiere season at 2000 and almost doubled the value from last season.
“You can clearly feel the anticipation for the Penny del in Dresden with those responsible, the fans and also the sponsors. Of course we are very pleased,” said Gernot Tripcke, Managing Director of Penny DEL as part of a press conference at the start of the season. The league was also able to report positive numbers from many of the other 13 clubs. Several other teams have set up new season ticket records, some of the sale was also stopped to have enough tickets for spending visitors. This continues the trend of last season, in which the Penny Del had set up a new record with a total of 3.3 million stadium viewers. The occupancy of the arenas was already an average of 90.1 percent in the main round. In the playoffs, the halls were even 96 percent filled.
In view of this very high occupancy, further growth is hardly to be expected in the current season, Tripcke explained. Especially since the league through the descent of Düsseldorfer eG and the smaller stadium at the DEL Winter Game, compared to the arena in Frankfurt, starts the season with a small mortgage. “Basically, around 150,000 spectators are missing before the first Bully compared to the previous year,” said Tripcke. “You have to realistically assess that this development cannot be increased infinitely at such a high level.”
It is all the more important that the 14 clubs continue to work to improve the stadium experience and to invest in the infrastructure. For example, the Schwenninger Willd Wings have installed a new video bubble in their arena, the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven are currently building ten new VIP lodges in the ice arena. And even away from the ice area, the league is working on improving the experience for its fans. The Penny Del Fantasy Manager was started two weeks before the start of the season, in which almost 10,000 participants have already registered, who put together their desired team from all players of the German Ice Hockey League, can use the real game statistics to collect points and win exclusive prices.
Of course, all games of the coming season as well as the complete playoffs can be seen live at our TV partner MagentaSport in the tenth year. In addition, DF1 will broadcast a game every Sunday at the new broadcast time at 4:30 p.m. and selected playoff games on free TV.
www.del.org, pic: del.org
